Firstly, thanks Scott for this groovy picture of you, your brother, and your teeny tiny sister, all dressed up in your school uniforms! I’d say your school was definately Mod, not Rocker.

Secondly: The fashion industry digs itself into a hole when it insists, with penny wisdom and pound foolishness, we must wear what is “of the moment.” Soon my favorite garments will make me look old and frumpy; decidedly un-hip; cash-poor; and so on, if they aren’t brand-spanking new. I try to evade this problem by wearing clothing, not fashion—I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who has reacted this way to the industry’s commercial peer pressure, given how the industry is constantly in a state of panic that no one’s buying. But I love design, so, what clothing? Land’s End? It’d be like I’m a painter and although I’d like to express something luminously in oils, I’ll just use magic markers.

Recently someone decided that a safe manufacturing bet will be Gladiator Sandals. So here’s John Fluevog’s version. I love it; I love the proportions, and that it’s magenta. But I won’t buy a pair (at least I think I won’t!), because while I’d love to express to the world the beauty of magenta, I suspect that’s not the only thing I’d communicate.